Blue Note — along with Universal Music Enterprises — is launching a major 75th Anniversary Vinyl Initiative dedicated to the proposition that its catalog should be readily available at a low cost — featuring high quality pressings and authentic reproductions of Blue Note's iconic packaging.

"The second volume in this two-disc series displays Thelonious Monk coming into his own fully as a leader. The program consists almost entirely of original compositions, and in fact it opens with two of his most difficult: 'Four in One' (with its conventional bop intro that leads into a bizarre, repeated five-against-two quintuplet sequence) and the forbiddingly abstract 'Criss Cross.' Get through those and you'll eventually be rewarded with the relatively straightforward, blues-based 'Straight No Chaser' and the sweet ballad 'Ask Me Now," among other treats." — AllMusic